The civic workers attached to Antony Waste Handling Cell Private Limited, the private firm engaged in door-to-door garbage collection and transportation in Mangaluru, stayed away from garbage collection on Saturday morning.
However, the issues were settled with the Mangaluru City Corporation Commissioner Akshy Sridhar visiting the civic workers and promising to set right the system, in the noon. Later, a few vehicles collected garbage from households.
Civic Workers’ Association president Narayana Shetty said that the commissioner has promised to pay the pending bonus on January 4 and also promised to pay the salary by 10th of every month. The commissioner has asked the civic workers to meet him on January 4, with a list of unfulfilled demands.
Shetty said out of 12 demands submitted on December 17 by the Association, the authorities have fulfilled only one demand and have neglected the welfare of the civic workers.
“Hence, we had decided to stay away from the work. The work for the civic workers should be fixed for eight hours. Over-time payment should be paid for extra work as per the government guidelines. Action should be initiated against those supervisors who are engaged in harassing the workers. Legal action should be initiated against supervisors who had misused the funds. All the workers should be brought under PF and ESI facilities and pay slips should be issued for the workers. There is a need for transparency in the payment made for the civic workers,” he added.
There are 800 civic workers, including the drivers of the vehicles.